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Monday, 2 August 2010

The Tehran Stock Exchange said its benchmark Tedpix index, the world’s second-best performing equity index in the first half of 2010, exceeded 16,000 for the first time in its 43-year history.

The index closed at 16,078 today, up from 12,536 since March 17, the last business day in the previous Iranian year, according to the TSE’s website.

The exchange, founded in 1967, lists 337 companies with a total value of 759 trillion Iranian rials ($76 billion). An average of 9,886 trades were completed per day in the Iranian month of Khordad, which ended June 21, according to data on the exchange’s website."

Saudi Arabia’s shares rose to the highest in more than a month, helping lead an advance in Gulf markets, as global equities rallied and earnings in Europe boosted investor confidence. Oil gained to a three-month high.

Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the world’s biggest petrochemical maker, closed at the highest in almost three weeks. Saudi Arabian Mining Co., the state-controlled metals producer known as Ma’aden, climbed for a fifth day. The Tadawul All Share Index advanced 0.3 percent to 6,332.45 at the 3:30 p.m. close in Riyadh. Qatar’s QE Index gained 0.4 percent and the Bloomberg GCC 200 Index rose 0.3 percent.

“Bullish bias from international markets triggered additional buying flows,” said Amro Halwani, a trader at Shuaa Capital PSC in Saudi Arabia. “Flows on Sabic and petrochemicals are building up as oil ticks higher.”"

Emaar MGF Land Ltd., the Indian unit of Dubai’s largest developer, plans to cut a proposed initial public offering to a maximum 20 billion rupees ($433 million), two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The builder, a unit of Emaar Properties PJSC, will this month seek approval from India’s capital markets regulator to sell shares this year, the people said, declining to be named before a public announcement. The offer may raise as little as 15 billion rupees, they said.

Emaar MGF, based in New Delhi, was forced to abandon plans to raise as much as 70.8 billion rupees in February 2008 even after cutting the offer price as global equity markets slumped, the company said at the time.

Sanctions against Iran have done nothing to dent a boom in its stock market, as investors bet on a continued rise in company stocks which have been undervalued for years, the head of the Tehran bourse said.

New trading instruments, privatisations and several IPOs helped the Tehran Stock Exchange's main index rise 57 percent last year, Hassan Ghalibaf Asl said, adding that the latest round of sanctions -- some of which target financial services -- had not harmed the market.

The sanctions from the United Nations Security Council, the United States and the European Union aim to put further pressure on Tehran over its nuclear programme, which the U.S. and its allies see as an attempt to make an atomic bomb.

Dubai's Damas may face "significant uncertainty" to operate its business if the jeweller is unable to execute its restructuring plan or extend a debt standstill agreement, the company's auditors said in a report on Monday.

"In the event that the financial restructuring plan is not signed as envisaged or the standstill agreement is not extended further, there could be significant uncertainty over the ability of the group to continue operating as a going concern," said Ernst & Young, in a letter published on the bourse's website.

Damas on Sunday said it made a full-year loss of 1.91 billion dirhams after provisions and non-recurring charges of 1.9 billion dirhams.

Arabtec Holding PJSC, the United Arab Emirates’ biggest construction company by market value, reported a 40 percent decline in second-quarter profit as the building boom in Dubai slowed after the global financial crisis.

Net income dropped to 111.1 million dirhams ($30 million), or 11 fils a share, from 183.9 million dirhams, or 15 fils, a year earlier, Arabtec said in a statement to the Dubai bourse today. The average estimate of six analysts was for a profit of 144 million dirhams, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Revenue in the quarter fell to 1.28 billion dirhams from 2 billion dirhams, the company said.

Building companies in Dubai are struggling after property developers halted or canceled projects costing billions of dollars because of falling prices. Nakheel PJSC began in June making 40 percent cash payment payments to its contractors as the Dubai World-owned company seeks to alter terms on $10.5 billion of unpaid bills and loans.

Saudi Arabian real estate and energy companies are leading Islamic bond sales from the Persian Gulf as the kingdom’s $400 billion stimulus plan, the biggest among the Group of 20 nations, boosts spending.

Sukuk from borrowers in the largest Arab economy may more than double to $4.5 billion this year from $2.1 billion in 2009, as a “scarcity” of local notes that comply with the religion’s ban on interest bolsters demand from local banks, according to Riyadh-based HSBC Saudi Arabia Ltd.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil supplier, announced the five-year plan in 2008 to spur economic growth and finance construction projects. Saudi Finance Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf said on Feb. 11 that gross domestic product may increase more than 4 percent in 2010, compared with 0.6 percent last year.